Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a currency-value converter which allows a player to play a game using various currencies, a gaming system where a player can play a game using various currencies, an individual tracking apparatus, and an individual tracking system.
Discussion of the Background
Conventionally, there exists a gaming machine where a player can play a game by inserting money. A money validator such as a bill validator (i.e. BV) identifies the money inserted by the player, and the game progresses based on information indicating the identified amount of money and the like. As those money validators, a money validator provided in a gaming machine itself, and a one installed separately from the gaming machine are known, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,959, U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,685, U.S. Pat. No. 6,852,029, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,846,238.
The conventional money validators described above are typically capable of identifying only one type of currency. One of the reasons thereof is that, since the money paid out for winning of the game is a single currency, it has been convenient in that the paid out money can directly be the source of money if the money that can be inserted is the same currency as the single currency.
However, in the recent years, there have been new gaming machines that, when the game is won, pay out something other than money, such as a ticket on which a barcode as coded data of the number of credits and the like is printed, and a card storing the number of credits information. Therefore, the reason described above has become no longer appropriate as the reason for identifying only one type of currency.
Rather, there has been a problem in that, when the money that can be inserted by the player is set to a single currency (basic currency), the player feels extremely inconvenienced since the player needs to exchange another currency into the basic currency in a case of having exhausted the money in hand. Particularly when there exists no exchange machine used for exchanging money nearby, the player often quits the game in a case of having exhausted the basic currency in hand. Setting the money that can be inserted by the player to the single currency has thus been a factor preventing the player from playing the game for a long time.
On the other hand, another reason of setting the money that can be inserted by the player to the single currency is that it has been considered preferable in providing a gaming system that is capable of conducting a payout according to a progressive jackpot. In such a gaming system, a plurality of gaming machines are linked by a network. A part of an amount corresponding to the money inserted into each gaming machine is then pooled and the money corresponding to the pooled amount is paid out to the gaming machine having won a progressive jackpot. A player playing a game in the aforementioned gaming system is playing the game with a big purpose of acquiring the profit according to the progressive jackpot, and this kind of games are popular among the players in recent years.
In a case that the player can insert money corresponding to the several currencies in this kind of gaming system, it has been believed that a harmful effect is generated in pooling the amount because of the use of several currencies.
The present invention was made in view of the aforementioned problems and an object thereof is to provide a currency-value converter, use of which can prevent generation of a harmful effect in providing a gaming system capable of letting the player continue to play the game without feeling any inconvenience even in a case of exhausting his or her basic currency in hand and capable of conducting a payout according to a progressive jackpot.
The present invention was made in view of the aforementioned problems and an object thereof is to provide a gaming system capable of letting the player continue to play the game without feeling inconvenienced even in a case of exhausting his or her basic currency in hand, and capable of preventing generation of a harmful effect in conducting a payout according to a progressive jackpot.
In recent years, a face identification technology which identifies individuals by taking an image of the face of a person and comparing the image with an image for comparison preliminarily stored in a database has been increasingly used in various fields. This kind of technologies are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,944,319, U.S. Pat. No. 6,975,750, U.S. Pat. No. 7,095,879, U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,087, U.S. Pat. No. 7,142,697, U.S. Pat. No. 7,406,184. Moreover, an application of the face identification technology in the game field is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,094,149.
On the other hand, in casino operations, management of staff members in a casino may become an important factor. For example, in a casino where staff members are not thoroughly managed and the staff members habitually fail to put on the nameplates, there may be a problem that some people disguise themselves as a staff member in order to illegally cheat money. Moreover, if the staff members fail to put on the nameplates, guests cannot recognize the staff members, and thus sufficient services may not be provided to the guests.
Further, the inventor of the present invention have thought of the idea that, not only in casinos but in general, application of a system capable of detecting people who do not possess items that should be possessed in a facility could establish a highly convenient system in various fields.
The present invention has been devised to solve the aforementioned problems, and a purpose of the present invention is to provide an individual tracking system capable of identifying people who do not possess the items which should be possessed in the facility.
In recent years, a face identification technology which identifies individuals by taking an image of the face of a person and comparing the image with an image for comparison preliminarily stored in a database has been increasingly used in various fields. This kind of technologies are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,944,319, U.S. Pat. No. 6,975,750, U.S. Pat. No. 7,095,879, U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,087, U.S. Pat. No. 7,142,697, U.S. Pat. No. 7,406,184. Moreover, an application of the face identification technology in the game field is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,094,149.
Meanwhile, since people can get money when they win a casino game, the number of people who try to fraudulently earn money never seems to decline. Therefore, in order to easily identify a person who committed fraud, recently there are some casino parlors which have introduced an ID card to identify each player. However, in the case where the ID card is introduced, some players forget to collect the ID card after they finish playing games. Further, there are some cases where the uncollected ID card is misused. Further, since people receive money in a casino game, it is required that the player who has got a predetermined amount or more of money should be specified so that the player assuredly pays taxes.
Therefore, there have been attempts to solve the aforementioned problems by applying the aforementioned face identification technology to casino games. However, mare application of the aforementioned face identification technology to a gaming machine could cause the following problems.
Namely, there is a problem of timing when the image of the face is captured. For example, in the case where the image capturing starts after an uncollected card is detected based on the game not being played for a specific period of time, the player has already gone.
Moreover, in the case where the image of the face of a player who has obtained a fixed amount of money (player who has received a prize in the game) is captured at a timing when the prize is offered, the player may already be changed with other player.
As a method capable of solving the aforementioned problems, a method of always recording the image may be conceivable, instead of starting the image capturing by a camera at a certain timing. However, if the always-recording method is applied, the amount of image data to be stored in a memory is so large that maintenance, such as periodically taking out the image data and storing the data in another medium, is required. As a result, the convenience is deteriorated.
The present invention is devised in light of the aforementioned problems, and the purpose of the present invention is to provide an individual tracking apparatus and an individual tracking system, which enable an application of the technology for tracking individuals by use of face images to the game field without reducing the convenience.
The contents of U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,959, U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,685, U.S. Pat. No. 6,852,029, U.S. Pat. No. 6,846,238, U.S. Pat. No. 6,944,319, U.S. Pat. No. 6,975,750, U.S. Pat. No. 7,095,879, U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,087, U.S. Pat. No. 7,142,697, U.S. Pat. No. 7,406,184, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,094,149 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.